Guardian Reporting On FATCA

Unfortunately, it uses the TC words: Tax Cheaters. It also uses the D word: Dual.

The following doesn’t address Canada specifically, but seems to describe our situation, as well as that of some other countries.

One example is determining exactly how the banks will ascertain the information in question. The IRS has basically suggested that financial institutions ask about the citizenship of everyone who opens or maintains an account. If Americanism is detected, the account holder’s assets must be evaluated for certain criteria that indicate a possibility of tax evasion. Many observers consider this line of inquiry to be incredibly intrusive and an offense to the expectation of personal privacy.

Another looming issue that has watchdogs up in arms is that compliance with the American law may run afoul of standing sovereign laws that govern the transmission of confidential information. Americans with dual citizenship or visas still expect that certain rights will be guaranteed by the constitution of the other country, and the collection and communication of personal data interferes with those rights. Obedience to FATCA may require breaking statutes that regulate that interaction unless the host nation can devise a means to legislate its way out of breaking its own constitution.

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5 thoughts on “Guardian Reporting On FATCA”

http://www.complianceweek.com/wait-for-final-guidance-prompts-call-for-fatca-extensions/article/322758/
“Compliance Week” (published by Wilmington Group plc, is an information service on corporate governance, risk and compliance..)
Excerpt below
“In a letter to the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, American Bankers Association, Clearing House Association and the Institute of International Bankers plead their case that the first scheduled FATCA implementation date of July 1, 2014 “is insufficient time to achieve the effective, full implementation of FATCA.”

@Daniel, good to have you visit us. You may not be with the famous ‘guardian’, but we’re still very pleased you’ve reported on this. There are a lot of snowbirds in Las Vegas who need to be made aware of this travesty.
And just so we’re clear – the act may target tax evaders, but the bullseye seems to have expanded to include regular middle class people who have some sort of tie to the US – even those who haven’t had anything to do with the US in many decades!

@Daniel: Are you the Daniel who wrote the article? Thanks for coming here and commenting on my comment about The Guardian.

Are you aware of our Open Letter yesterday to Canada’s Finance Minister, our Open Letter to Canadian Bankers Association two weeks ago, four small protests (without palm trees :)!) and We Are Not A Myth Portrait Protest?

As I said, it’s great to have some coverage on this in the US–even though it’s not the Guardian I initially thought it was.

What is your interest in FATCA? As James Jatras says, it’s the most important law most Americans have never heard of.

Yeah, sorry about that. I don’t entirely agree with the intention of the site’s nomenclature. It turns out there is a cottage industry of online newspapers built on the same platform that mimic better known outlets in their name, such as the “Guardian and Post”, the “Sun and Mail”, and such like. But I decided to work for them because the editorial standards are admirably rigorous…most of the time.

The readership is larger than you might suspect as well. Since the article was published last night, over 100,000 people nationwide have been exposed to it in the first 12 or 14 hours. Our weekend hits are five times that. Hey, it’s a start.